XRP's price rose above $1.60 on March 16 before retreating to $1.5125 at the time of this report's writing, but the most significant development that day wasn't the price itself.

According to Santiment data, the XRP Ledger recorded 46,767 active addresses on March 16, which represents the highest level of network activity since February 12, while the total number of coin holders surpassed 7.7 million for the first time in the asset's history.

What the blockchain data shows

The Santiment platform chart, covering the period from February 15 to March 17, displays two indicators alongside price: daily active addresses and total number of coin holders. Prominently highlighted in the chart is the number of active addresses at 46,767 on March 16, which represents a notable increase that far exceeds the baseline activity level we witnessed throughout most of February and early March. Previous peaks during the same period reached similar levels, but they did not coincide with any comparable increase in the number of coin holders.

The figure of 7.7 million holders is the most structurally significant number. The number of holders is a slower-changing metric than active addresses, as it doesn't fluctuate sharply with each trading session, but rather accumulates over time as new wallets join the XRP network and retain their holdings. Surpassing the 7.7 million figure for the first time means that the network's ownership base has never been broader, even during previous periods when XRP was trading at significantly higher prices.

This coincidence between the peak in network activity and the record number of coin holders, which coincided with the price exceeding $1.50, is no accident. Rather, it reflects genuine user engagement with the network, and not a price movement driven solely by derivatives activity or external momentum.